Nagoya – This city located between Tokyo and Kyoto has unique cuisine. Like an udon with a thick and tasty marinade of red miso sauce!
The city is often called ‘Chukyo’ because of its location between Tokyo and Kyoto, two major historical cities in Japan. The Nagoya name comes from the word ‘Nagoyaka’ which means peace.
Apart from seeing temples and enjoying unagi and Nagoya sea products, Nagoya special udon should not be missed. Generally, udon in Nagoya is made fresh and cooked with the right temperature and time so that the flavor is thick crunchy. Borrowing Italian words, like ‘al dente’ on pasta. Then what is special about Udon in Nagoya?
Udon in Nagoya is known as ‘miso nikomi udon’. Or udon in the soaking miso sauce. Miso is the result of fermented mashed soybeans. Miso is one of the ingredients of Japanese cuisine and in each region has a different type of miso. Nonetheless, miso can be distinguished into white miso or shiromiso, red miso or akamiso and both cmapuran miso, awasemiso.
Red Miso is characteristic of Nagoya, besides being an udon sauce, it is also used as a spread of fried or grilled chicken and roasted unagi. It tastes savory with a tauco-like aroma that is savory and sharp.
But red miso in Nagoya is slightly different, known as haccho miso, which is made only with soybeans without additional rice so that the taste is more savory.
If you want to enjoy miso nikomi udon, you can stop by the famous Nikomi Udon Yammamotoya Honten as the best place to taste udon. Not many menus provided. In summer they serve some cold udon menus.
The udon texture is made fresh with a spicy savory terrace, ‘al dente’ and the portions are quite filling. If you are still not full, Nagoya people usually eat it with white rice. The remaining udon sauce can be stirred with white rice. The part of half-cooked yolk can be enjoyed last so that it still remains tasty on the tongue. Itadakimasu!